LEADER'S WORDS

By Ron Dietes, Squadron Leader

     As I write this the Rose is safely tucked into a hangar at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita.  The Wichita Air Festival is now over and I have to tell you, it was fun and we actually made some money, although the weather was not that great.  It rained during the night and for most of the mornings, but it did clear up in the afternoons and allowed the airshow to happen.  But, most performers had to do their low show.  The Rose and a locally based P-51 were the opening act and we provided the backdrop flyby for the parachute jumper with the US flag.  The timing was almost perfect.  It was great and maybe we will get to do this again at a future airshow.  We think the Wichita Airshow folks will invite us back again, as we were the only bomber there and the cockpit tour lines were long all afternoon.  This was our first Ride-For-Hire show and we didn’t do any paid rides, and that was very disappointing, but we are hopeful that we will schedule some for the McConnell weekend.  Thanks to Letty for designing and making the ride flyers and mailing them at no cost to the Squadron, to many, many businesses and individuals in the Wichita area.

     I have some very good news.  Most of you know that we were trying to obtain two replacement engines for the Rose from the Hawkins Powers Auction.  I am happy to report, that we now have two engines that were purchased and donated to the Yellow Rose Squadron.  I cannot thank those two individuals enough.  Especially, now that we have Ride-For-Hire approval, it was essential that we have spare engines waiting ready to bolt on the Rose, should we encounter an engine problem.  Jerry Taylor is working out the logistics and costs associated with getting the engines transported from GreyBull Wyoming to Texas.  Right now the thinking is to have them test run on an engine stand to make sure they are functional and then we’ll keep them protected and ready to install on the Rose, when the time comes to change the engines.

     Doolittle is progressing, albeit slowly.  There is a report elsewhere in this newsletter and I encourage each and every one of you members, to brainstorm how we can obtain sponsors for this event.  The time is getting short and we need to start expending money that we do not have for the up front costs associated with this event.  Please try to attend a meeting so you can offer your input and so you can lend a hand with the work that remains to be done.  We meet between the Yellow Rose meeting and the Centex meeting with the carry over after the Centex Meeting.

     The Mexico trip is not confirmed as yet, but anyone that wants to go on this trip needs to let Grant and/or me know.  I will add it to the Airshow Signup list and get a copy to those of you on Email.  He also has other trips in the works and those will also be added to the list.  So, don’t be shy.  Get your names on the list.  It seems like it is always the same people going on the trips, when I know we have more than eight members in the squadron.

     Also, don’t forget our Christmas Party at the Hangar Hotel in Fredericksburg is happening again this year.  Tim Black has volunteered to make the arrangements and is working with the hotel on dates as this is being written.  It looks like the date will be Saturday December 9th followed by the Flyday at the hangar on Sunday September 10th.  So if you want to join us, let Tim know if you will be staying overnight and want a room reserved at a special price and also how many will be attending the dinner on Saturday evening.  Of course, cocktails in the Officers Club prior to the dinner and then our normal social gathering in the Officers club after dinner.  Costs will be published when Tim has them worked out with the management at the Hotel.  Please let Grant or Tim know if you are planning to ride up to Fredericksburg in the Rose or in one of the other aircraft from the hangar.  That makes the planning a lot easier.

    The Yellow Rose was very well received at the WIchita Air Festival. The income from the weekend:  Cockpit Tours, $429, PX Sales, $854.55, Air Show fee, $2,500, and Donation, $100 for a total of $3,883.55 less fuel taken on at Midland, $1,155, for a net of $2,728.55.                 Report courtesy of Judy McMIllan.

 

CHRISTMAS PARTY PLANS

From Tim Black, Squadron Executive Officer

     The Yellow Rose Christmas party will be held at the Hangar Hotel in Fredericksburg on Saturday, Dec. 9th, 2006.  The same format as last year will be used.  We will be flying the Rose and any other planes available up to Fredericksburg on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 9th.   Rooms (20) have been reserved at the Hangar Hotel for our party for that Saturday night.  We will have a free afternoon with a cocktail hour prior to the dinner, dinner in the Officer's Club, after dinner "let-your-hair-down/crud" get together at the Hotel bar, breakfast on your own on Sunday morning, fly the aircraft back to San Marcos in time to have our annual squadron Christmas party-family fly day begin around noon on Sunday, Dec. 10th.  The hotel has reserved our rooms at a special rate of $139.00 per room.

     Anyone wishing to reserve a room, please call the hotel directly (830-997-9990) and make your reservation under the Yellow Rose reservation.  I will track the number of rooms being reserved and try to get more if needed.  This way everyone can pay as they wish for their rooms.  We will be charged $250 (same as last year) for the use of the room for dinner, but they will not charge us a fee for having a "pay-as-you-go" bar at the dinner (same as last year).  I will coordinate with the hotel on the dinner arrangements and price, add in the dinner room charge, tip, and taxes and collect that money so we can just make one payment for the dinner for everyone. I will let everyone know that amount once it is settled.

     If there are any questions, let me know.  You will need to make your hotel arrangements and let me know if you are attending the dinner by Tuesday, Dec. 5th so I can make final arrangements with the hotel.  Please remember, once we give the final head count for the dinner, we owe that amount.  If you are unable to make it after that date, we will still have to collect the money or the squadron funds will have to be used to make it up. You do not need to stay overnight at the hotel to attend the dinner. It is open to everyone, whether staying at the hotel or not.

PX REPORT AND WICHITA AVIATION FESTIVAL

By Greg Young, Squadron PX Officer

On Thursday, August 24; a crew consisting of Ron Dietes, Grant Lannon, Bubba Renfro, Jim Liles, and Greg Young left the San Marcos hangar by ground transport for the overland trip to Midland to get the Rose back into her natural element...the skies.  The Rose had to fulfill the 45 day commitment for display at CAF Headquarters but boy was she ready to fly.  Ken Udcoff "eagled" into Midland to fill up the crew roster to six.  After the traditional Rose stay at the PARKWAY and visit to the American Legion, it was time to head northeast to Wichita, Kansas for the Wichita Aviation Festival.  We loaded up and the Rose lept into the air like a homesick bird.   We passed over such metropolitan areas such as Childress,Texas and Enid, Oklahoma (Grant relived his Tweety Bird days).  It was a smooth 2 hour plus flight and soon we were on approach to Wichita's James Jabara Airport (named after a Korean War F86 ace who ironically was killed later in a car accident).  Of course, the Rose attracted attention and soon she was taking media members on a promo flight.  We secured the Rose for the night (it rained all three nights we were there but cleared up enough each day for the show).  After visits to Ted's Bison Burgers and the downtown Wichita Brickyard we retired for the night.  The next morning was cloudy with light drizzle as we prepared the Rose for the day but it started to clear off as the day progressed.  The Rose was chosen to be part of the opening of the show so Ron and Grant led a P51 and the Tuskegee T6 in a formation to start things off.  The timing was perfect as the Rose passed the skydiver who was floating to the ground with a large American flag.  A couple of more passes and the Rose was down for the day,  The cockpit tour line never shrank the entire day and PX items were selling well.  The show went well and highlighted Wichita's Aviation history as a center of aviation.  It was a bunch of propeller plane acts and featured several 30s classics such as a Travel Air Mystery ship racing plane replica.  While we were doing our jobs of showcasing the Rose, Bobby Unser (several time Indianapolis 500 winner) came by and of course toured the Rose.  He is an aviation buff and flies his own Piper Aerostar.  He stayed by the Rose and talked to us for about 15 minutes, a real down to earth aviation lover.  We secured our girl for the night and Jim Liles and myself landed up in the back of a World War II vintage jeep driven by none other than Bobby Unser who wanted to tour the flight line after the crowds had left.  It was neat being driven around in a Jeep by a Indy 500 winner.  Sunday's weather was a repeat of Saturday's and the show was a carbon copy of the day before.  Of course, the real positive aspect was the continuous cockpit tour line and continuous PX sales that help us showcase the Rose.  The airshow organizers had raffled off some seats for a Rose ride so when the show was over, off the Rose went on another flight.  While the Rose was flying, a gentleman came up with a P38 cap and we were talking.  When I mentioned hosting the Doolittle Reunion, he mentioned his group had their last reunion a few years ago.  When I asked him more questions, I learned he was in the same P38 recon squadron in Burma as my father was and at the same time!  Since my father has been gone for many years it was interesting to talk to him and gain sources of information where I can learn more about my father's Word War II service.  He had some pictures of the squadron which also had a couple of B25s which my dad had mentioned to me about flying in the tail gunner postion several times.   Our conversation ended as the Rose returned from the promo flight.  We again secured her and after one last night in Wichita, we were back at Jabara Airport to stage the Rose over to Mid Continent Airport where she will spend the next 2 weeks before our participation in the McConnell Air Force base show also in Wichita.  We said goodbye to the Rose and headed south to San Marcos in our rental van.  Half of our Wichita mission is accomplished.  PX report wise it was a good show.  Cockpit tours netted $429 and PX sales were $877.50.  That was not bad for a one and one half day show.  I’ll be up at the hangar in the next couple of days to replenish items to take to McConnell.   As always, Happy landings.    

 

MINUTES of the August 8th, 2006 MEETING of the YELLOW ROSE SQUADRON

By Dave Howard, Squadron Adjutant (As Submitted by Letty Dietes)

The regular squadron meeting was held at San Marcos in the Centex Hangar Ready Room.  Squadron Leader, Ron Dietes, called the meeting to order at 1802.  Other officers present were Ops, XO, Finance, Safety, PX, and Publicity.  Adjutant was absent but arranged for a substitute in his absence.  Twenty-five members attended along with 5 guests.  The previous meeting’s Minutes were approved as printed in the Briefings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ron announced that Burnet will be having a dinner dance.  Ron made the flyer available to all interested members.  Fredericksburg will also have a dance and Ron made their flyer available as well.

 

Ron relayed information regarding the CAF Las Vegas convention in 2007.

 

Our Ride for Hire application has been approved.  Ron expressed his appreciation to Grant for completing the process.

REPORTS

Operations:  Grant announced that the Rose will be going to Wichita and McConnell Air Shows.  The Rose will stay in the Wichita area and the crew will give rides during this 2 week period (3 weekends).  If you are going to the airshows and can extend your stay to help with the rides for hire, you’ll need to pay for your own room on the non-airshow days.  Logistics are being worked out to get the crew to Midland and then on to Wichita.  Flyers are being mailed out to businesses in the Wichita area to advertise Ride for Hire.

     We will not be going to Wings over Houston.  The Rose will be going to New Orleans instead.  It is the same weekend – October 21-22, 2006.

     The Mexico trip is still being worked out.  Dates are October 28-31.

Executive Officer:  The Squadron will be holding an auction/raffle to help raise funds to reimburse those that flew to Dayton to bid on the Doolittle Reunion.  Items in the auction are:  jacket, 3 caps, Chili Gift Cards, Toolkit, Movie Tickets, T6 ride, briefcase.

     Plans will begin for the annual Fredericksburg Xmas trip.  Tim Black volunteered to organize this annual event.

Finance:  Judy gave the monthly financial report.  A motion was made to accept the report as read.  The motion was seconded and the motion carried.

Adjutant:  No Report

Safety/Newsletter:  No Report

PX:  PX business is quiet.  Greg reported that he ordered an extra amount of the shells because they may be discontinued.

Publicity:  Bob Gardner reports that there have been a lot of hits on our website requesting info on rides and Doolittle.

For the Good of the Squadron:  William Foster reported that he made contact with “Aloft Technologies” to arrange for headsets for the Rose.  The rep will need to ride in the Rose to test the noise level.

     Ron reported that while in Oshkosh, he made contact with a company that is in receivership and has overhauled engines for sale.  After giving details to the membership a motion was made by Mike Renck to purchase the engines for $24,000.  The motion was seconded and voted on unanimously.  Judy and Ron will work out the details.

     Ron will call the company and see what deal he can arrange for the purchase.

     Bob Gardner announced that he will donate all monies raised in the auction, back to the Squadron for the engines.

 

Old Business:  Bob Gardner asked about the status of mailing out the slicks/flyers.  The process is still under review.

 

The meeting adjourned at 1840.

OPERATIONS REPORT

By Grant Lannon, Squadron Operations Officer

Several of us drove to Midland in a rental car, pulled the Rose out of static display and flew to Wichita for the Wichita Flight Festival.  Thanks to Jim Liles for going up the week before to ensure that there was oil on her and that she was ready (after being on display at Headquarters) to be flown again.  The flight to this aviation centered city was uneventful and we flew a PR ride for the press on Friday when we arrived.  The Rose got a big piece of the publicity the whole weekend.  The other bomber, an A-26 (not CAF) not only had an engine problem but vandals broke into their hanger and sprayed graffiti on the aircraft so the aircraft did not make it.  We flew two demonstration flights, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday with a P-51 on our wing while the Star Spangled Banner played for the jumper descending with the American flag.  The cockpit tour line was never short and we sold almost everything we had in the PX.  Since McConnell AFB airshow is on September 9th and 10th, we flew the aircraft over to Wichita Mid-continent and left her in the care of Raytheon.  We made the 9 hour drive home in a rental mini-van and were still friends when we got home.  We will return on the 7th in another rental vehicle to reclaim her and take her to McConnell.  Unfortunately, this means that those who cannot get vacation or are not retired cannot go on the trip.  We are saving a lot of money by not flying her home.  Thanks to those who made the trip with me (Ron Dietes, Jim Liles, Bubba Renfro, Greg Young, Ken Udcoff) and for sharing expenses to get us to her and get us home.

 

RIDE FOR HIRE

 

We were approved for “ride for hire” and are experimenting with the best way to capture the interest in riding in the B-25.  We have notified the Wichita FSDO that we intend to fly these rides over the period of the two airshows there.  There was a lot of interest from attendees at the Wichita Air Festival but we did not get any confirmed reservations.  We will be working with the Jayhawk Wing to see if we can tap into some of their connections to generate revenue rides.

AIRSHOW SCHEDULE:

From Grant Lannon, Operations Officer

Planning continues for the tour of Tamalipas province of Mexico from 10/26-10/31 with several other aircraft (Matamoras, Victoria, and Nuevo Laredo).  Those members who wish to go on this event (if we are chosen) will have to have passports.  We are replacing Pacific Prowler at one of two events on October 21/22 and will go to either New Orleans or New Braunfels.  We did not receive an invitation from Houston, which is the same date. We also have been talking to Tucumcari about 10/4 and Little Rock about 11/4 but no confirmations yet. We also supplied a bid to De Ridder, LA for Memorial Day, Nov 5^th.  The revised schedule for confirmed appearances is below:

 

 

EVENT	DATE	C	DURATION
McConnell AFB (Wichita)	Sep 8-11		Three days (Fri Arrvl)
Midland Fina CAF Airshow	Oct 6-8		two days
N’Awlins or New Braunfels	Oct 20-22		two days
Fredericksburg/San Marcos Christmas party	Dec 9-10		Saturday in Fredericksburg/ Sunday at San Marcos

---

DOOLITTLE RAIDERS REUNION ACTIVITY REPORT

By Grant Lannon

     The activities for the event have been tentatively approved and we are trying to make sure that the approval is permanent.  The logo has been created and Bob Gardner has revised the video to go into the fund raising packages.  We are talking with the event planner and the professional fund raiser while individuals have started to approach sponsors.  It is critical we get the fund raising packages together by September since this is the prime month for getting the attention of corporate budget makers for 2007.  Other reports will be elsewhere in this newsletter.

     We have responses directly or indirectly from six B-25s that are interested in attending.  Many of them want to know the funding available to offset costs.  We are waiting for a second meeting with the Air Force to determine to what extent their associated organizations will be able to help with funding.  We are researching the record of a paid fundraiser to help with educational grants associated with the B-25s that might be attending.  We have contacted other companies to meet with them and explain the event activities in the hopes that they will provide some funding.

     Bottom line: we are waiting for a second meeting with the Air Force and the acceptance/rejection of Raider associated activities from the liaison person until we move to the next phase of further detailed planning and fundraising.  We will continue to contact people associated with B-25s to get their tentative commitment to the event.

YELLOW ROSE HAS NEW SPONSOR

We have a new sponsor as of July.  In addition to all the hard work he has given to the Squadron, Jim Liles is now a sponsor.

2006 Yellow Rose B-25
Squadron Staff Officers

Squadron Leader - Ron Dietes

t6cpilot@netzero.net

Executive Officer - Tim Black

tangblack@austin.rr.com

Finance Officer - Judy McMillan

heyjude@texas.net

Adjutant - Dave Howard

dave.howard@baesystems.com

Operations Officer - Grant Lannon (interim)

glannon@texas.net

Maintenance Officer - Jim Liles

james.liles@tstr.net

Safety Officer - Jerry Taylor

james_j_taylor@msn.com

PX Officer - Greg Young

tbolt52@hotmail.com

Publicity Officer - Bob Gardner

bob@rhga.com